Description

Joseph Soloveitchik (1903–1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, philosopher, and theologian. In this new work, William Kolbrener takes on Soloveitchik’s controversial legacy and shows how he was torn between the traditionalist demands of his European ancestors and the trajectory of his own radical and often pluralist philosophy. A portrait of this self-professed "lonely man of faith" reveals him to be a reluctant modern who responds to the catastrophic trauma of personal and historical loss by underwriting an idiosyncratic, highly conservative conception of law that is distinct from his Talmudic predecessors, and also paves the way for a return to tradition that hinges on the ethical embrace of multiplicity. As Kolbrener melds these contradictions, he presents Soloveitchik as a good deal more complicated and conflicted than others have suggested. The Last Rabbi affords new perspective on the thought of this major Jewish philosopher and his ideas on the nature of religious authority, knowledge, and pluralism.

Author Bio

William Kolbrener is Professor of English at Bar Ilan University in Israel. He is author of Open Minded Torah: Of Irony, Fundamentalism, and Love.

Reviews

“This revolutionary work offers a powerful lens through which to read the writings of the pioneering 20th-Century talmudist and Jewish philosopher, Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, the driving force behind American modern Orthodoxy…Kolbrener’s work musters a dazzling panoply of Jewish and general sources to re-examine the life and works of the most influential American talmudist. The Last Rabbi is a challenging, yet rewarding, read and ironically raises the threshold for future studies of Soloveitchik to the extent that this work may itself be the “last”.”
— Jewish Chronicle

“Recommended.”
— Choice

“Kolbrenner masterfully weaves a portrait of a very brilliant and complex individual who both successfully and unsuccessfully straddled the lines between the Yeshiva World and the world of Philosophy.”
— Jewish History Channel

“The Last Rabbi provides a refreshingly new and different understanding of this enigmatic figure…Although much of Kolbrener’s foray into Soloveitchik’s psyche is speculative, it does provide an innovative and fascinating new perspective on one of the most important, yet elusive, Jewish thinkers of the past century. For those interested in Jewish though, this is certainly a thought-provoking read.”
— Times Higher Education

“The author, William Kolbrenner, a professor of English at Bar Ilan University, weaves his interests in Jewish thought and literature into his powerful examination, providing readers with a 'thought biography' that challenges us to consider Rabbi Soloveitchik as the 'reluctant modern.'”
— Jewish Book Council

“This is a unique work, which creatively forges conversations among unlikely interlocutors and which, though emerging out of the study of a single thinker, Joseph Soloveitchik, has much broader ambitions. Kolbrener disrupts the boundaries between academic fields while ably employing their diverse methods and similarly asking his readers to open themselves to difference.”
— Yonatan Brafman, Jewish Theological Seminary

“This groundbreaking book takes an entirely novel and highly illuminating approach to the thought of Joseph Dov ha-Levi Soloveitchik, at once one of the greatest Talmudists, one of the greatest Jewish philosophers, and one of the greatest religious personalities of the twentieth century. Informed by psychoanalysis and literary theory, Kolbrener sheds new light both on previously discussed aspects of Soloveitchik's thought, such as his cognitive pluralist defence of Talmudic study, and on neglected aspects, such as his explorations of family and gender. What emerges is a far richer and more complicated figure, whose thought may be engaged in many more ways than hitherto imagined. The implications of Kolbrener's book are very great indeed.”
— Paul Franks, Yale University, Philosophy and Judaic Studies

“Kolbrener's book appreciates Soloveitchik as a Jewish thinker, but claims a role for him in the intellectual history of the twentieth century.”
— Lawrence Kaplan, McGill University